Echo The Bard
Echo the Bard was born somewhere around in Terresol, the land of the sun. Orphaned at a very young age, the young, nameless boy had very close to nothing, resorting to petty thievery and begging over in corners of the city. His innocent looks got the attention and affection of the people, and he used their trust against them, cleaning their pockets of gold and silver without arousing any suspicion, and never being noticed.One day, a travelling circus visited the town, and announced a series of performances, setting up a large, colourful tent on the main square of the town. Unable to resist the colours, sounds and smells of the circus, the boy, however, wasn’t allowed to buy a ticket, being a street-beggar. He sneaked in through the back entrance instead, and, while the performance was at its peak, begun stealing what he could reach, and sneaking peeks at the performers, the freaks of the circus and the animals. He was caught there by the circus master, who, at first angry and irate at the small thief, was impressed by his sneakiness and ability, as none of the numerous circus members were able to notice as a simple and small 5 year old boy had managed to take a real toll on their pockets. The circus master figured the kid could be useful if raised and taught well, and he decided to get him to tag along with the company, thus beginning the boy’s circus career, performing for them ever since. He was liked by all the members of the circus, and everyone tried to teach him something new. In those days, he was called Bachcha - a name given to him by the fire-breathing yogi from the Southern Islands (and, in his tongue, the word simply meant ‘boy’.) Starting out as a young acrobat, assistant to the illusionist and other performers, he was trained in almost every field of circus performances: not only acrobatics and sleight of hand, but also equilibristic arts, juggling, and even swordplay and ringfighting. He was always most fascinated and enamoured with the musicians, however, and took up on playing string instruments, quickly learning to not only play, but improvise and create musical melodies from scratch. His enchanting music has earned him an epithet “the Echo of the Strings”, and Echo was the name he then always answered to, forgetting the one he was called by before After years of performing he had clearly noticed instruments became alive when he played them, their music merrier, deeper, heartwarming and earthshaking after he played. People were amazed by his talent in the towns they visited, and he attracted great crowds to the Circus, with people coming to hear the young boy play his music. Later, in his adolescence, the illusionist of the circus secretly began teaching Echo real magic, as he was in fact a retired mage, who was hiding from his past-life problems and enemies. The mage was a spirit summoner, one who could summon powerful spirits to his command. Echo quickly learnt to combine his passion for music with magic, summoning simple spirits with melodies of his own design. Soon, he made a pact with three powerful spirit broods: the Birds of the Winds, the Serpents of the Flames, and the Steeds of the Soils. Over his years of training, he crafted three instruments, each one meant to summon one of the spirit’s kinds, and Echo’s music became the way he summoned many spirits, each different and unique: the Wind Domra, the Flaming Viola, and the Quaking Harp. When he was approaching adulthood, the circus fell apart due to bankruptcy, and the performers each went their separate ways. Echo began travelling alone, earning his meals by performing music and acrobatic feats to the public of the towns he passed through. Eventually, he’s arrived to the great kingdom of Northwind, with his reputation as the Troubadour of the Roads being already well established.